JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 51 



of which I examined at my leisure. On 

 a large easel before me stood an unfin- 

 ished portrait, other pictures hung 

 about, and in the room were two young 

 pupils j and at a glance I discovered 

 that the eccentric stranger was, like my- 

 self, a naturalist and an artist. The 

 artist, as modest as he was odd, showed 

 me how he laid on the paint on his 

 pictures, asked after my own pursuits, 

 and showed a friendly spirit which en- 

 chanted me. With a ramrod for a rest, 

 he prosecuted his work vigorously, and 

 afterwards asked me to examine a per- 

 cussion lock on his gun, a novelty to me 

 at the time. He snapped some caps, 

 and on my remarking that he would 

 frighten his birds, he exclaimed, ' Devil 

 take the birds, there are more of them 

 in the market. ? He then loaded his 

 gun, and wishing to show me that he 

 was a marksman, fired at one of the pins 

 on his easel. This he smashed to pieces, 

 and afterward put a rifle bullet exactly 



